From one of Australia’s most brilliant writers, a dark comedy about the tangled fates of two couples and the children trapped between them Michael and Mary Shelley are Christian fanatics who loathe their fellow Australians – especially their ‘foul language, reckless indulgence of alcohol and obsession with idiotic ball sports’. Lenore and Tom Blaine are working-class Queensland publicans raising a large family in a raucous, loving, rugby-league-obsessed home. There’s just one problem. The Blaines are foster parents to three of the Shelleys’ children, who were removed from Michael and Mary as infants. And the Shelleys are prepared to do anything to get them back. Anything. Australian Gospel is a family saga like no other – heartbreaking, hilarious and altogether astonishing. ‘The astonishing tale of a foster family held together by ferocious love and courage. What makes a real family? Whose rights should triumph in battles over a child? Which inheritances can we escape, and which will haunt us forever?
